Morning Wildfire Headlines

The following headlines are just a sampling of stories that are running accross the country this morning. You will note that ALL the fire news is not comming from the west.

In Nevada, a newspaper photographer covering a brush fire this week was roughed up, handcuffed and cited for obstruction, his editor said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/20/law-enforcement-restricts-media-wildfire-coverage/#ixzz1yJmjNNji

More wind and heat could hamper Colorado wildfire fight

The High Park Fire had consumed 59,500 acres of woodland by Tuesday, but it was about 50% contained.

Idaho wildfire destroys six homes southeast of Boise

A small but destructive wildfire driven by strong winds has destroyed six houses and five outbuildings in Idaho, while two much larger blazes threatened dozens of dwellings in Wyoming and Colorado, authorities said on Tuesday.

Wildfire hits and misses San Juan County residents

BLOOMFIELD - The path of the wildfire east of Bloomfield is a checkerboard of destruction and close calls.

Five family homes were destroyed in the County Road 4901 Fire, which was what first responders named the 352--acre wildfire that started east of Bloomfield on Monday afternoon.

UPDATE: Croatan National Forest wildfire grows to 21,000 acres

CROATAN NATIONAL FOREST, N.C. – The wildfire at Croatan National Forest has more than doubled in size from yesterday.

Officials say its now 21 thousand acres.

The U.S. Forestry has 100 people trying to control the wildfire.

Brush fire threatened Charlotte County homes

Shifting winds challenged firefighters

Charlotte County and Florida Division of Forestry firefighters spent nearly three hours Monday night battling a brush fire that threatened several homes.

New Mexico wildfire threatens Smokey Bear's home

The "Little Bear" fire is burning in the Smokey the Bear Ranger District, White Mountain Wilderness and Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico near Ruidoso. The forest is where the scared bear cub was rescued in 1950.

Massive NM Fire Threatens Endangered Fish
The wildfire that has ravaged southwestern New Mexico is the largest in the state's recorded history, and it's endangering an already threatened species of trout. Biologists say the ash, sediment and charred debris will wash into streams with summer rains and that's a deadly recipe for the Gila trout found in the Gila National Forest.

Wallow Wildfire in AZ Nations LARGEST at 519,319 acres

Do you know just how big 519,319 acres is?
If you had a plot of land a football field wide (100 yards) it would go from San Fransico to New York        5 times.

Strong southwest winds have caused the Wallow Fire to breach containment lines along US 180, on the east side of the fire. The fire is burning toward Luna, New Mexico.

Power has been interrupted in the towns of Nutrioso, Alpine and The Blue, AZ. and Luna and Reserve, N.M. for further information see the Navopache Electric Cooperative web site.

 Planned Activity Today .....
Zone 1- Continue point protection and mop-up and re-hab. Zone 2- Structure protection and constructing and securing control lines in Branch VI. Continue securing lines and burning out from Strayhorse down to Blue River. Patrol for and attack any spot fires found across the Blue River. Zone 3- Check fire spread south in Branch XII and mop-up and patrol in other branches.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is scheduled to visit Springerville tomorrow, with visits to the Apache-Sitgreaves Forest Supervisors Office and the Zone 1 ICP. IHC Crews remain a critical resource for Southwest Area Command. Acres burned by ownership are as follows: USFS = 478,131 ac. State of Arizona = 4,531 ac. Private = 6,284 ac. San Carlos Indian Reservation = 9,200 ac. Fort Apache Indian reservation = 12,972 ac.

Growth Potential  Extreme

Terrain Difficulty  High

Temperature 72-88 degrees

Humidity 8-9%

The Home Of Smokey Bear Closes Wildfires Ravage the Area

Dry New Mexico sees 27 wildfires in 4 days

No significant rain expected until July — and 'we're starting to add lightning to the mix'

The first three months of the year marked the second-driest start to any year on record in New Mexico. And more than 400 in that time have scorched more than 490 square miles. A handful of the fires so far this year were started by lightning, but most have been human-caused.

Officials plan to close Lincoln National Forest in southeastern New Mexico on Thursday. At least two other national forests have imposed various stages of fire restrictions, and the New Mexico State Forestry Division has enacted restrictions across all but parts of four northern counties.

The LNF closure order, to be signed by Forest Supervisor Robert Trujillo will go into effect, 8:00 a.m., May 12, 2011. For more information about the Fire Closure Order or the Lincoln National Forest, please contact the Supervisor's Office at (575) 434-7200, or one of the following District Offices: Smokey Bear Ranger District - (575) 257-4095, Sacramento Ranger District - (575) 682-2551, and Carlsbad Ranger District - (575) 885-4181.

Adult Smokey Bear 1976Baby Smokey Bear 1950

Reminiscent of the conditions almost 61 years to the day when wildfires (then we called them Forest Fires) ravaged the SW including parts of New Mexico and on the very Forest  that was the original home of Smokey Bear, fires once again are impacting the area.

Some of these fires are caused by lightning but many, way to many, are human caused just like the Capitan Gap Fire in 1950. Smokey Bear and his friends have spent many many years and thousands and thousands of hours educating folks about the dangers of wildfires and what we can do to prevent them. So why you might say are we still having so many wildfires. Mostly because of carelessness and people just not realizing just how much the drought has created such dangerous conditions.

So we all can GET YOUR SMOKEY ON ( www.smokeybear.com) and not only do OUR part and not let a wildfire start but spread the word, Smokey’s Words, ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES.

Here is a bit of Smokey's Story to get you started ......

It is believed that on May 4, 1950, a carelessly discarded cigarette butt started the Los Tablos blaze in the Lincoln National Forest . On May 6, a second fire, known as the Capitan Gap fire, which was also man-caused, started in the same general area. Together these fires destroyed 17,000 acres of forest and grasslands. The monetary loss to private properties was great, but the loss to the wildlife and environment was even greater.

On May 8, a 70 mile per hour wind made it impossible to control the blaze. It was on this day that nineteen men were trapped in a rockslide while the holocaust raged around and passed them. They were rescued without any fatalities, but later expressed the opinion that they knew "just how a slice of toast feels."

These are not the only wildfires burningSmokey needs your help all accross the Nation especially where it is dry, real dry.

Wildfire grows 10,000 acres a day!!!!

Honey Prairie Fire has burned 90,990 acres and crossed into Florida

About 50 residents near Baxter community warned of possible evacuations.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2011-05-10/story/honey-prairie-fire-has-burned-90990-acres-and-crossed-florida#ixzz1M1sTy8VM

For more information on the refuge and the fire, call (912) 496-7836 or go to fws.gov/okefenokee.

Wildfires Continue to burn in several states / Historic Weather

As wildfires burn on and hundeds if not thousands of firefighters respond not all their safey issues are fire related.

Blaze at North Carolina wildlife refuge burns 20,000 acres

Dry thunderstorms spark more fires in West Texas

Okefenokee fire nears 72,000 acres as it burns toward Florida

Wildfires prompt evacuations in 2 New Mexico communities

Historic month for wild weather in US

 

May 10, 2011 - 4:27PM  AP

US government meteorologists say April was a historic month for wild weather in the US, and it was not just the killer tornado outbreak that set records.
April included an odd mix of downpours, droughts and wildfires.
Six states - Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia - set records for the wettest April since 1895.
The US also had the most hectares burnt by wildfire for April since 2000.
Add to a record 305 tornadoes from April 25-28, which killed at least 309 people and the most tornadoes ever for all of April: 1875.
US scientists also looked for the fingerprints of global warming and La Nina on last month's deadly tornadoes, but could find no evidence to blame those often-cited weather phenomena.
Meanwhile, Texas and parts of several surrounding states are suffering through a drought nearly as punishing as some of the world's driest deserts, with much of the nation focused on a spring marked by historic floods and deadly tornadoes.
Some parts of Texas have not had any significant precipitation since August.
Bayous, cattle ponds and farm fields are drying up, and residents are living under constant threat of wildfires, which have already burnt across thousands of square kilometres.
Grass is so dry it crunches underfoot in many places and some ranchers are culling their herds to avoid paying supplemental feed costs.